Life

IRONMAN New Zealand Celebrates 30 Years

Since its inception as the first international event, IRONMAN New Zealand has become the "United Nations" of the sport.

by Ian Hepenstall

IRONMAN New Zealand marks many firsts for IRONMAN. The first European IRONMAN winner was crowned in New Zealand in 1990, and a year later saw the first German IRONMAN champ. Some of the sport's greatest athletes took their first wins in Taupo, including two-time IRONMAN world champion Tim Deboom and 11-time IRONMAN champion Lisa Bentley.

Born in 1985, IRONMAN New Zealand will become the first international IRONMAN event to celebrate 30 years next March. Perhaps because of its unique status, its pure landscape or favorable exchange rate, international visitors have always arrived and returned in numbers. This year, 52 nations were represented on the start line and it was not until five years ago that home-grown participants outnumbered international visitors.

The IRONMAN World Championship was six years old when its directors decided to test the waters of global interest with an international qualifying event. They decided on New Zealand as the first overseas IRONMAN site after visiting the bidding countries.

"New Zealand was breathtaking, one of the most scenic places on earth. The people were fabulous," said then IRONMAN CEO Valerie Silk.

Two decades later, IRONMAN founders John and Judy Collins participated in the event, understanding immediately why Silk had wanted the Hawaiian-based IRONMAN to find a home in New Zealand.

"To us, New Zealand was Hawaii in a temperate climate. It was Polynesian, scenic, geologically young and the people were warm and welcoming. The street names on the course could just as well have been in Honolulu or Kona. The underlying lore and landscape of the Maori and the Hawaiian people permeate the courses. Volcanoes and lava and fumaroles, inviting waters and lovely landscapes suit the endurance triathlon event we call the IRONMAN," John Collins said.

The race has since attracted legendary names, either at the top of their game or using it as a stepping stone to greatness. That first year it was Scott Molina, who won while Dave Scott and Scott Tinley were on the start line.

"My win in New Zealand was my first in an endurance event. So it obviously had some effect on my confidence," Molina said of his victory. "But, more importantly, it opened my eyes. For the first time I realised that I happened to be a professional in a sport that could become global and that I had some abilities in triathlon. I took myself and this business more seriously from that point on.’"

The win by Achmoneit in 1991 was the first IRONMAN victory by a German and only the second by a European following Pauli Kiuru’s wins in New Zealand and Roth in 1990. "The victory set the way for a German invasion of the sport. After that win came Jurgen Zack, Thomas Hellriegel, Stefan Holzner, Lothar Leder and more."

There was also the closest finish in the sport’s history when Kiuru held out Glah by one metre in that remarkable sprint finish in 1990. Glah and his wife, Wanklyn, would go on to win the race five times between them. But as always with IRONMAN New Zealand, it is more than the results on race day.

"It became our second home and we felt very much part of it," says Wanklyn. "The win was the most significant in my career. The first one is so special—and I was pleased that it was in New Zealand. I ended up racing nine years in a row. We have family there and it was a special place for us."

"New Zealand became a very special place for me," said two-time winner Holzner. "So much so that I married my wife there.’’

Brown, who went on to become the first person to win the same IRONMAN crown 10 times, said his breakthrough win in 2001 changed everything for him.

"The way I always saw it, this is New Zealand IRONMAN—if you win that you're a bloody legend," he said. "Look at who's won it over the years."

But the best assessment of the historic race is perhaps best left to the couple who started it all in Hawaii, John and Judy Collins: "There is a special place of honour in IRONMAN and triathlon history for the first of the international IRONMAN family. IRONMAN New Zealand will always be number one."